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Mountains

In preparation for my new self-published book in the making, I’ve been spending some time pondering what makes wines from the French Alps so special. I’ve also been trying to define where the wine regions of the French Alps begin and end, and indeed why. My first book, Jura Wine, seemed impossible to create when… View more

When 15 years ago the owners of the Cottanera wine estate in Sicily’s Etna region discovered they had been sent 14,000 vines of Mondeuse as part of a consignment of French varieties purchased from a French vine nursery, they were not well pleased. After all, no-one knew then that Mondeuse was a close relative to… View more

To reach my place in the French Alps, the usual route from Geneva airport or even all the way from England is along the A40 motorway heading towards Chamonix-Mont Blanc. On a clear day as you approach my exit, there is the perennial snow-covered Mont Blanc chain and closer, the much lower, rather distinct almost… View more

Mountain wines! The term sounds romantic to any wine lover who also loves the mountains. Beautiful scenery springs to mind, but for anyone with a little knowledge on growing vines and making wine, mountain wines also conjures up an image of difficult, challenging or even extreme conditions leading perhaps to fine wines born out of… View more

Some news. Firstly, this is a new website and blog for me, which will keep you up-to-date with everything I’m doing. I’m deserting Blogger and the Winey Wink blog, all the previous posts have been fed in to this WordPress.com blog and I will continue to post here when I have something new to share…. View more

UPDATE: 24th June 2010: Thanks to all for participating and to those who spread the word about this offer! We have selected New Zealand world travllers, Craig and Linda Martin of Indie Travel Podcast to stay at Chalet Balaena and experience the Tour de France! Congratulations to them and looking forward to it! Here’s a… View more

It’s where I first learnt to ski, where I first appreciated the beauty of glaciers, where I first bought a man a drink (aged 9, encouraged by my father), where I first drank Fendant, the local name for white Chasselas wine, to excess (many years later, I promise), where I first lived (briefly) on my… View more

For those who believe that a European ski trip should be the last ‘luxury’ to be dropped in these times of the strong euro, then this one is for you … well at least for those who believe in lunch on the piste. This is, in part, a completely shameless plug for the French Alpine… View more

A couple of weekends ago, we had a wonderful evening at my favourite restaurant in the mountains. After a nightmare day when my website had myriad problems, I was never so relieved to be going out for the evening with friends to Chez Albert as on that evening. I’m proud of being a regular (well… View more